Hotels selling liquor won’t get GST rate

Mumbai: Small restaurants, which had welcomed the composite scheme that offered a GST rate of 5% (2.5% for Central GST and 2.5% for State GST), cannot opt for it if they sell liquor. One of the restrictive conditions is that the taxpayer opting for this scheme must not be engaged in making any supply of goods which are ‘not leviable’ to tax under GST.

Liquor is entirely out of the GST ambit.

A composite levy is available for small taxpayers having a turnover of less than Rs 50 lakh. However, the fine print shows that there are many restrictions that will hamper taxpayers (say, small restaurants or dealers) from taking advantage of the scheme. Tax experts said that they have been bombarded with issues facing small players. “Take for instance, a handicraft supplier in Rajasthan. If a tourist visits and asks for delivery of an item by courier, it will be an inter-state sale and the dealer will be denied the benefit of the composite levy,” explains Sunil Gabhawalla, indirect tax expert. For dealers, the composite levy is 1% (0.5% under CGST and SGST respectively).

Many e-market places are persuading smaller players to sell goods via the portal. If they do so, they will not be able to take advantage of the composite scheme, as yet another restriction states that the taxpayer must not supply goods through an electronic-commerce operator, who is required to collect tax at source.